New Year S Eve

When Jukebox Live breaks into "Shake, Rattle and Roll" on a boisterous New Year's Eve, the real world fades away. That, in itself, is ample reward for a musician. Take it from Lou Bell, the band's 44-year-old lead singer and keyboard player."Probably to any musician, it's the biggest night of the year. The best night of the year. It's the party time, where people -- no matter what is going on all year -- have a good time," Bell says.It is a New Year's Eve band's solemn responsibility to usher revelers from one year to the next with ritualistic, soul-cleansing abandon.

The death of Aaliyah Boyer, a 10-year-old struck down in Cecil County, and the shooting of Laurie Eberhardt, a grandmother hit by gunfire in Florida, share the same perplexing challenge for prosecutors and investigators. Both were watching fireworks on New Year's Eve when they were hit by apparent celebratory gunfire. And both face long odds of having their shooters brought to justice because of the anonymity of the crime and weak laws against firing guns indiscriminately into the air. If authorities ever find the person who fired the shot that hit Aaliyah, the county's top prosecutor said, a misdemeanor charge might be the most he or she could face.

The death of Aaliyah Boyer, a 10-year-old struck down in Cecil County, and the shooting of Laurie Eberhardt, a grandmother hit by gunfire in Florida, share the same perplexing challenge for prosecutors and investigators. Both were watching fireworks on New Year's Eve when they were hit by apparent celebratory gunfire. And both face long odds of having their shooters brought to justice because of the anonymity of the crime and weak laws against firing guns indiscriminately into the air. If authorities ever find the person who fired the shot that hit Aaliyah, the county's top prosecutor said, a misdemeanor charge might be the most he or she could face.

Aaliyah Boyer had hoped to watch the New Year's ball drop on TV, but when she learned she had missed the stroke of midnight by 32 seconds, she returned to the front yard with her friends to watch her neighbors light fireworks. Nearby, someone apparently fired a gun into the air to add to the celebration. Amid the jubilation, the 10-year-old fell to the ground, the warmth and color draining from her body after she was hit by a falling bullet. Her family initially thought that she had fainted, but the wound would prove fatal.

Aaliyah Boyer had hoped to watch the New Year's ball drop on TV, but when she learned she had missed the stroke of midnight by 32 seconds, she returned to the front yard with her friends to watch her neighbors light fireworks. Nearby, someone apparently fired a gun into the air to add to the celebration. Amid the jubilation, the 10-year-old fell to the ground, the warmth and color draining from her body after she was hit by a falling bullet. Her family initially thought that she had fainted, but the wound would prove fatal.

With New Year's Eve just a month away, we asked our staff about the pros and cons of the night. Here's what they had to say. •••• Best: There's almost always an awesome party to attend. Worst: There's yet another night that Ryan Seacrest is on TV.  Luke Broadwater, reporter, The Baltimore Sun •••• Worst is hats. And drunk people. Best is drunken people in hats.  Anne Tallent, editor,  b •••• Best: Getting to use a new calendar.

Amid twinkling white lights, garlands of silver foliage and pale pink accents, Karen L. Jenne will officially step into high society Saturday.The 20-year-old Westminster resident joins 29 other young women from the United States and Europe in the 73rd Debutante Assembly and New Year's Ball, New York City's oldest and most well-known debutante presentation."

Writing obituaries for The Baltimore Sun, you get to know a lot of nice people at the worst moment in their lives. In the majority of cases, this is the first time we have connected, even though, as we say, we occasionally have repeat customers. Inevitably, it can turn personal, when friends and colleagues pass away. (For the record, it is The Sun's policy that we do not write obits for our family members. Other reporters are given that task.) In the course of researching the life of the deceased, lots of good material surfaces that might not make the final cut because of space restrictions.

Why is “Trouble Maker,” a K-pop song that's been around for a year, suddenly getting worldwide Twitter love? I blame end-of-year lists and an upcoming awards ceremony. On a less global scale, residents along the East Coast continue to be curious about this weekend's weather, and Maryland residents are getting antsy about whether Congress will manage to avoid the fiscal cliff. Additionally, there's national attention focused on what lawmakers decide to do regarding guns. Finally, a member of Australia's Janoskians has given opinions on his favorite foods.

In Havre de Grace, it just doesn't feel like New Year's without a duck dropping from the sky. Since the turn of the millennium, at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, the town has dropped a wooden 6-foot-by- 8-foot duck from a hook-and-ladder firetruck, as fireworks exploded in the night sky. Havre de Grace is the duck decoy capital of the world. Or so it says. But this year, the duck will not fall. The Fire Department's hook-and-ladder truck was retired, and a new truck is not yet in service.

A 23-year-old man suffered serious injuries when he was stabbed at a Timonium hotel following a New Year's Eve party, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman said. County police were called at 2:47 a.m. Tuesday to Crowne Plaza Hotel on Greenspring Drive, where witnesses told the responding officers that a person had been injured but had left the hotel in a vehicle, said police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathy Batton. About half an hour later, she said city police reported that the man who had been stabbed at the hotel was being treated at a city hospital.

A Belcamp teenager died early New Year's Day after being injured in a crash on Bush Chapel Road in Aberdeen shortly before New Year's Eve became 2013, the Harford County Sheriff's Office reported. At 11:21 p.m. Dec. 31, Harford County sheriff's deputies responded to the 300 block of Bush Chapel Road in Aberdeen for a report of a motor vehicle collision with entrapment. The sheriff's office investigation revealed that Austin D. Remines, 17, of the 1200 block of Person Place in Belcamp, was driving a 2008 Suzuki Forenza on Bush Chapel Road near the intersection of Mt. Calvary Church Road.

On a near perfect New Year's Eve night, Havre de Grace welcomed 2013 with its 14th annual Duck Drop and fireworks. With temperatures in the low 30s and nary a breeze to disturb the stillness of the evening, hundreds descended on the area around the Havre de Grace Middle School and countless others watched from vantage points elsewhere in the city in anticipation of the Duck Drop. Sponsored by the Susquehanna Hose Co., whose members in recent years have added the city's holiday defining reverie to its boundless community service, the duck was hoisted atop one of the company's trucks with its apparatus fully extended high above the school grounds.

This year ends with a seasonable day in Baltimore, with a highs in the mid 40s and cloudy skies. Monday is expected to start near freezing, with lows in the lower 30s. Normal temperatures this time of year are a high around 42 and a low around 25. Clouds are expected to move in throughout the day, with southwest winds shifting to westerly winds of about 10-15 mph. With the wind chill, temperatures will feel in the upper 20s in the morning and...

Although the program's suspension was announced in July, AAA Mid-Atlantic would like to remind Marylanders that the free Tipsy?Taxi! service will not run this New Year's Eve, says Public and Government Affairs Manager Ragina C. Averella. The last Tipsy?Taxi! service provided in Maryland was for July 4 of this year. The service was established in 2006, and it gave free taxi rides during popular holidays known for their partying. Averella says one of the main reasons for the suspension was lack of funding.

I can get pretty sentimental on the last day of the year, and I thought some of you might be the same. So here's a little sentiment for New Year's Eve, courtesy of Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus. " There is a wonderful moment in Act 2 when all of the mirth and slapstick of the operetta gives way to something gentle and, I think, quite genuine. This number, "Brüderlein und Schwesterlein," sends a message that boils down to: Let's all promise to get along tomorrow after having so much fun tonight -- a message perfect for a New Year's Eve toast.

A Belcamp teenager died early New Year's Day after being injured in a crash on Bush Chapel Road in Aberdeen shortly before New Year's Eve became 2013, the Harford County Sheriff's Office reported. At 11:21 p.m. Dec. 31, Harford County sheriff's deputies responded to the 300 block of Bush Chapel Road in Aberdeen for a report of a motor vehicle collision with entrapment. The sheriff's office investigation revealed that Austin D. Remines, 17, of the 1200 block of Person Place in Belcamp, was driving a 2008 Suzuki Forenza on Bush Chapel Road near the intersection of Mt. Calvary Church Road.

As a New York actress and a devout reader of books about great women in history, Jeanne Latter is always on the lookout for interesting female roles. And when she read the Laura Shamas play "Amelia Lives!," her interest was piqued.For good reason. The award-winning entry at the world-famous Edinburgh Festival recounts the life of Amelia Earhart, the American aviator whose disappearance over the South Pacific in 1937 still has the experts debating where she went down and why."I was immediately attracted to her courage and determination," said Ms. Latter, who will perform extensive excerpts from "Amelia Lives!"

Thousands of people streamed into Baltimore's Inner Harbor on New Year's Eve night to welcome 2013 with a bang of fireworks expected at midnight — a tradition for some and a new experience for others — as police scanned the crowds for threats. Steve and Lori Foster, along with their twin 12-year-old sons, Luke and Dylan, traveled from Newark, Del., for their first New Year's Eve in the city. "Somebody told us they have a really nice event down here, so we decided to come check it out," Steve said.